The Ryuunin
by Saotome Gota
Summary: The following story is an AU of Naruto. Keep an open mind, and I will do the same ;


**Chapter 1: The Guild**

It's a quiet morning in Konoha no Shi. The wind whistles calmly through the leafs of the surrounding forests, as the people of the city start their day. The little stores open for business, the children walks to school, and the people of the city go about their everyday errands. In the center of the city lies the guild of which the city is named, one of the five greats as they are known, Konoha. The large, red building rises majestically above the rest of the houses and stores in the city, and in the very top window a figure stands, scouting out over the city, as if he was waiting for something or someone to emerge. A knock is heard from the door behind him, and in comes a beautiful figure of a woman. Her long red hair dances slightly with her graceful movements; she walks over to the desk in the middle of the room, dropping a large stack of papers on it, then walks on to the man by the window, and gives him a lover's kiss. "Good morning Minato," she says with a smile, she looks into his eyes with a penetrating look "don't worry, he'll come home when his training's done." He looks back into her eyes, reassured by her words. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He turns to the stack of papers, "so, what's on the program for today?" The woman starts flipping through the stack, going over all the forms that need signing, approving, and disapproving. When done, she turns and is about to walk out the door, as the man stops her, "by the way have you seen Sasuke around?" "No, I haven't seen him in a couple of weeks now." The man turns to his papers with a worried look on his face, "He should really come home. Hana misses him more and more every day…" The woman looks down, and then walks out the door and down the hallway with fast steps to get to the main hall. When she arrives, and walks though the doors leading to the main hall, she is met with that all too familiar sight, of the shinobis of the guild drinking, eating, chatting, and of course the occasional brawl.

Meanwhile by the entrance gate of Konoha no Shi, a man, or rather a kid, stumbles through the enormous gates, panting from exhaustion, "Ao, this better be it." He stands, leaning against a large cane, which looks more like a random stick he found on the road, he then wobbles on into the city. The kid enters the first general store he finds, and looks to the store clerk, "hey, where do I find Konoha?" The clerk looks confused at him, then goes out on the street right in front of his store, and points down the road, "it's that big red building, right down there." There's a moment of silence as the kid realizes that he's been looking at it since he came, then breaks down completely, throwing his backpack to the ground, "Ao, why didn't you say it was that building?" A little blue dragon, with a long neck, curved claws, and wings neatly curled up by its side, stumbles out of the backpack, "how should I know that was it? I was in that stuffy backpack the whole time!" As the arguing escalades, the clerk buds in with a bit uncertainty in his voice, "uhm… if you two need to find any other guilds in the country, might I suggest that you buy a guild map?" The arguing stops as they both look at him with a puzzled look in their eyes. The clerk points to a shelf, right inside the store, where rows of identical folders are lined up, "they show the locations of all the official guilds, and are available all the way across the country." A moment of silence falls upon the three people in front of the little store. Then all hell breaks loose between the dragon and the kid, who by now just argues even louder than before. "They can be bought all across the country? We've walked through fifteen cities to find this guild, and those are available all across the country?" The kid yells at the dragon, "why didn't you say something?" "I didn't know they were there!" The yelling continues, and the store clerk returns to his store, to try and get away from the arguing duo. "I mean seriously, how hard is it to notice…?" The kid is cut off midsentence by a kunai coming down from the roof of one of the nearby buildings, glancing his cheek, then landing firmly stabbed into the ground. A girl, no more than 14 years old, leaps from the roof of which the kunai just flew. She touches ground in the spot where the kunai landed. "Break it up you two." She says with a firm voice, making it clear that she is used to being in charge. "Hey, who the hell are you?" the little dragon asks, then turns to the kid next to him, "can you believe this…" He is cut short by the kid's shocked face. In an instant it turns to excitement, "oh my god! You're Uchiha Hana! You're one of the Uchiha survivors!" In complete excitement, he goes for her hand, shaking it, shifting his look from her hand to her eyes and back. "I'm Saotome Gota and this," he points to the little blue dragon, "is my best friend Ao. We're looking to join Konoha, could you help us?" A bit shocked by the strong reaction she hesitates, but then reaches out her hand towards the guild with a confident smile, "lead the way." Gota immediately heads for the city gates, leaving Hana slightly confused. Ao looks from Hana to Gota and then bursts out "Gota the guild is in the other direction!" Gota stops, turns, and then says "oh yeah, sorry about that," with a stupid apologetic grin on his face. Ao flies over, sits on his shoulder, and points in the direction of the guild, "now head that way." A few moments later the three finally arrives at the guild; the huge wooden doors swing open, and reveal the main hall of the guild, which both Gota and Ao has looked for for years, finally ending their journey. Little do they know that the journey has only just begun.

1


End file.
